The whole meeting felt brief, and she continued to caress her blades all the way out the gate, as she did so, her escort taking her out, had more hesitant steps, their earlier confidence gave way to less than perfect posturing of arms and slower, less equal steps than before. Nua paid them no mind, ‘Raymond, how many hours did you spend with me on these? Lady Solution, how many times did you pin me to the ground and make me bathe in fear until I felt none?’ A warm glow filled her from her belly to her heart as her mind drifted away, back to the day of her liberation…

...The river was inky black from the ash and soot of the last city to fall victim to the wrath of the Dark Savior, the Demon of the West… The snow was white on the ground, offering bitter contrast to the destructiveness of the united army of General Baraja, yet cold as it was, Nua felt only warm. “I’m free! I’m free! I’m finally free!” She danced around in a circle, kicking up the snow for joy as she looked at the burning ruin of the city of her bondage, already small in the distance, there was the endless sky above, the endless earth beneath her feet, and nothing else to confine her. Yet back at the city she stared when her dancing stopped. There... where Raymond officially surrendered his nation and was traveling in chains as the last ruler of the Theocracy, to answer for his lifetime of service to the cause that had put a collar to her throat and whips to her back. He was out there… somewhere.

“Raymond! Do you hear me! You did it! You did it! You kept your promise! You stay alive out there, and I’ll find you again someday! That’s MY promise!”

...She snapped back to reality when her escorts cleared their throats, she blinked, the gate was already open, ‘Oops, wonder how long I’ve been standing here?’ She blushed a little at her brief mental absence. “Sorry, lots on my mind.”

She apologized without thinking, and the guards traded startled looks at her having bothered as she stepped beyond the gate, and the great city of Pas’en, and the world, seemed again to open up to her as she walked to where her horse was secured and mounted it.

The clip clop of hooves and the rich smell of good food, the loud people in loud clothing, and the sound of performers singing on corners, all combined to make it a pleasant ride. However, most of all, she felt the warmth of certainty in the direction she was going, the horse cantering beneath her, she found herself waving to strangers and smiling in spite of herself, no sense of anger could touch her in this moment as she rode forward to the first great step to achieving her goal.

She found herself unable to hold it back, and a song came out, a song Raymond himself had taught her. One of going far from home and coming back again, she belted the lyrics out atop her horse with the hood of her cloak down, her long blonde hair and wealthy dress, combined with the rich, full voice, drew numerous eyes.

She noticed not a single one of them, and did not stop singing until she reached her hotel, naked slave men and women were just finishing up in the baths staring at twenty suits of full armor and weapons lying beyond their reach by the bodyguard of the one who kicked their asses... when she rushed up on her horse, still singing happily and drawing startled looks from her property, who briefly forgot the equipment and looked at her in befuddlement.

She jumped down off the horse and flung the reins absently to Solution who stood only a foot or two away from where she stopped.

She grinned broadly at the lives she’d bought and said to them, “I have good news!”

This bizarre announcement created a noticeable tightening in their guts and fear in their eyes, but Nua paid it no more attention than she had the passersby on the way to the hotel.

“As soon as the rest of your armor and weapons have all arrived, we have a job. The man ‘Bracer’, a former mercenary, has two hundred prisoners turned into a bandit group that have been preying on the people around Pas’en, and we get to take him down!” Nua clapped her hands together like she’d just brought them the finest gift imaginable.

The slaves broke down into rapid talking, and Nua raised both her hands up in front of her above shoulder height to still them, “You have questions, I know, but hear me out first! I know, I know, two hundred of them, twenty five of you, right? They’re OUTNUMBERED!” She shouted, “Maybe they’ll surrender and make it easy, right?” She laughed, and nervous, anxious laughter returned from them.

“Before you say anything about how twenty five of you, well, twenty seven including myself and my bodyguard, is ‘less’ than two hundred and one.” Nua mockingly stroked her chin, “Yeah, that’s technically TRUE!” Her left hand shot out and her forefinger shot up to still them further.

“But YOU… you have something to fight for! All they want is their lives, but you… you get to reach for something more!” She let the statement hang, the questioning looks, furrowed brows, raised eyebrows, open mouths, uncertainty. The smell of fear, sweat and shame of weakness and defeat still hung over most of them.

Nua’s enthusiasm didn’t wane even slightly, “When we win... and we ‘will’ win… to the one of you who performs the best… I… Captain Nua Calen Aiwenor… will provide a reward. I… will buy one of your loved ones. A wife, a child, a mother, a spouse. I will let you see them again. I will allow nobody to harm them. If your son is in a mine, sleeping on stone in fear of the lash, I will take him from that! If your wife is scrubbing a floor and sleeping in a closet, I will put her in a house, a house she can live in, in peace and safety! Follow me! Be my Breakers! Be my soldiers, and I’ll make all… your dreams… come TRUE!”

“Who’s outnumbered now?! Them, who have not a single cause to their name! Or you, who have a hundred causes?!” Nua shouted with golden eyes aglow with the power of unholy devotion.

“They are!” The shout was returned.

“Who do you follow?! Whose soldiers are you?!” She shouted the question indifferent to the eyes that were drawn her way.

“Captain Aiwenor!” The shout all but deafened her as she upended their spirits.

“You are my Breakers. I am your Captain, Remember that, and I will give you everything that was taken from you and more!” Nua shouted and drew out her precious knife and held it aloft.

“Who will fight! Who will be the champion of the Breakers when it all begins?!” She pounded her questions into their hearts, and in their hearts, they affirmed it with the spark of hope rising from a tiny ember to a roaring blaze.

“I will!” Shouted every voice.

Nua’s voice fell off to a whisper, but a whisper she projected to them, her eyes joyful and hard, she said with deathly calm, “Prove it.”

Nua turned her attention to Solution, who held the reins of the horse in the perfect posture of a waiting servant, her hands folded neatly in front of her and her eyes downcast, only the tiny smile hinted at something else behind her outer facade.

“So, what do we have?” Nua asked brusquely.

Solution’s smile became more broad, “The alchemists, adventurers guild headmen, and mages guilds have all sent people. The kits are delivered, along with some weapons and armor, and Karlo brought the clothing delivery for the two in your room. Also, the first shipment of clothing for your soldiers is in storage.”

“Excellent, where will I find the representatives?” Nua asked pleasantly.

“Karlo is waiting inside by the front desk.” Solution said with the same brusque but courteous tone.

“Well, good, punctuality is the virtue of the noble, so I’d best get going.” Nua said with the wave of a noble walking away, “thank you, Teacher.” Nua said and giggled in spite of herself as she made her way in.

Karlo bowed as soon as he saw her. “Take me there, quickly.” Nua said without any other greeting, he snapped erect, spun around, and led her across the room to the stairs, only to veer a sharp left down a hall, then make another sharp right.

“There’s a room here, Mistress Nua.” He said as calmly as he could.

Nua’s ears twitched as she heard the anxiety and fear in his voice. ‘Too bad young man, you got caught up in a really, really bad idea. Guess I can’t blame you, if it had been someone I cared for or respected… I might have done the same. But if I’d caught you ‘in’ her, you’d be dead now, no matter how useful you might have been.’

Karlo shivered as he felt the glare of the mistress on the back of his neck, ‘I’m going to have to do quite a bit to get this one to trust me again, if I even can… hopefully she hasn’t abused Kaiji over my stupidity…’ He swallowed, the silence stretched out as they went down the long hall of doors, “I, ah, I took the liberty of hanging the clothing just inside the door of your room. I didn’t go in. It didn’t seem wise given… circumstances.” He smacked his lips and licked them a few times.

“Smart.” Nua said and snapped her mouth shut.

Karlo barely restrained his sigh of relief when he reached the door and bowed to her. “Mistress Nua… before you go in… can I just say something?” Sweat sprang from his forehead. ‘Shut up idiot, what the hell can you say to someone who commands monsters?!’ He thought as his mouth moved faster than his brain.

Nua looked at him in silence and folded her arms in front of her chest, she looked down her nose at him. “Go on.”

“I…” He shuffled his feet. “I…”

“Yes?” Nua pressed with ice blue eyes staring him down.

“I… about Lady Kaiji…” He managed to mutter, losing his ability to meet her eyes, he started staring down at her feet.

‘You poor boy… are you in love with her… or just admire her? Or are you that grateful for what she did for you back then?’ Nua wondered, and her instincts cried out for her to say, ‘She’ll be fine.’

Instead… Nua cut him off with sharp, quick words. “Lady Kaiji is dead. That up there is my property, Kaiji the slave. If you try again to steal what belongs to me, you’ll wish you hadn’t lived long enough to regret it, understand me, boy?”

He snapped his eyes up to her fearfully, “Y-Yes of course I didn’t mean it that way… I only meant that… she’s good, kind. I just didn’t want her to be punished for my stupidity. She refused, she wasn’t going to go with me. I was stupid.”

Nua snorted. “Good? Kind? Am I a ‘good’ or ‘kind’ woman, boy?” She asked sharply, baring her teeth as if to bite him.

He swallowed and looked down.

Nua let the silence drag on and his uncomfortable shifting movements grew more obvious. “That is answer enough, she was no different than I am, back when she was free. Kaiji the slave is probably kinder than Lady Kaiji ever was, but give her a choice, and she’d be herself again. She was kind to you because you were free. She is kind to you now because you’re superior to her by law. But put yourself in her collar and put a whip in her hand, and you’d fear her as much as she fears me. Now, leave me. See me again when the remaining armor and weapons finally arrive.”

“Yes… Lady Nua…” He whispered with his head hanging in defeat.

He began to trudge away, and Nua put her hand to the door handle. She waited, watching the pathetic wretch grow smaller as he moved farther away. “Oh, Karlo, one thing…” Nua said impulsively.

“Yes, My Lady?” He asked as he turned his head over his shoulder toward her again.

“Learn to lie, you’ll be safer that way.” Nua said without disguise, and pushed open the door, disappearing from his view.

Kaiji looked longingly at the clothing which hung on her side of the door. “It’s so… beautiful.” She whispered to Priceless. Despite being alone together, and huddled in a corner where they could see the door clearly in case they heard their mistress or her bodyguard return, Kaiji didn’t speak above a whisper the entire time.

“I know. It’s functional, traveling gear, I guess she really intends to keep us with her… I’ve… I’ve so missed clothing.” Kaiji beamed happily, “It looks comfortable, soft. I want to touch it.”

Priceless grabbed her arm hard. “No!” She hissed with wide eyes white with fear. “The mistress had them delivered, but she didn’t permit us to touch them! Never touch what your owner doesn’t tell you to. Never! It may be beautiful, it may be soft… you may be cold and wet and see a blanket or scrap of cloth, something to keep you warm… but don’t ever… ever touch it.”

“It’s just a touch… I just want to know, to remember what it feels like.” Kaiji whispered.

Her red eyes widened when Priceless slapped her hand. “No!” She hissed again. “What do you think she’ll do if you step out of line? Maybe that was put there as a trap! Maybe she thinks you’ll touch it, then she’ll come in, or her bodyguard will, and ask if we touched it. I’m…” Priceless lowered her eyes.

“What?” Kaiji asked, placing her dark hand on Priceless’s trembling arm.

“I’m a coward. I’m scared, OK? I’ve always been a fearful coward… I hate pain, I can’t bear it. I’m terrified of everyone without a collar, and half of those with one. I have… moments, when I do a little better, that moment when I pitied your innocence… but even then?” Priceless relaxed as Kaiji pulled her into her arms. “Even then all I wanted to do was not hurt. Our new mistress… she named me, the most beautiful… wonderful name I ever had. She touched me soft and didn’t hurt me any. But she’s… I’m more scared of her than anyone, even that man who had me the day she got us.”

Kaiji began to rock Priceless back and forth, the brown haired woman was no longer meeting the red eyes of her companion, but had pressed her face just above the breast to talk. “The magic hand, those cold… cruel eyes. Now to know sh-she can steal life itself? Please… please don’t touch that, if she asks, I’m such a worthless coward that I’ll start crying as soon as she asks us. I can’t lie, I’m too scared to lie, just like I’m too much a coward to just die and get this worthless life of mine over with already. Scared of pain, scared of punishment. I should have just done away with myself years ago, when I realized that my life wasn’t never going to be better, that this was it. It’s only fear of pain and fear of nothingness that keeps me alive… so please… don’t touch it. I’ll break from just her questioning look.”

“Alright… alright…” Kaiji whispered and rested her chin on Priceless’s head and stroked her bare back affectionately. “I won’t, I won’t, I promise… I don’t think I’d have been any braver than you though… even when I was starting to move to get up… I could already see her left hand coming out, telling me to kiss that evil looking gem…” She kissed the top of Priceless’s head, “I’m no better than you… no different except that… I remember something else, some other way of life. But I’m starting to forget that. Like it was a dream. Forget my stupid impulse… it was, I just wanted to remember for a moment, and thought touching it might help me do so.”

“Better to forget.” Priceless said confidently as she wiped her eyes clear. “Only work, only obey. Only do what the mistress says and be grateful for any touch that doesn’t hurt or humiliate. Forget… forget it all before, happiness now, is just the absence of pain, mostly.”

“Maybe you’re right. It is getting easier and easier to abase myself, I’m… getting used to not having anything to wear but this leather collar. I… licked the top of her shoe last night, trying to kill that semblance of pride from before… it was impulsive, but she praised me. I’m… starting to understand how I’ll have to be, to survive this way.” Kaiji tore her eyes away from the long green and black outfit, the high brown boots of soft leather with black laces. It all screamed ‘upper class servant’. Behind it hung thick brown cloaks tailor made to keep the wearer comfortable and dry through the harshest of weather conditions. “Still… even a slave, no matter how low they are, is free to at least ‘want’ things. I just can’t do what I want… not without fear. I never… back when I was a mistress myself, when I owned a dozen like you… like me as I now am, really understood what that meant.”

Priceless sat up and took Kaiji’s deep purple hands into her own and met eye to eye, “If you want to survive… you’ll have to act like the slaves you used to own. If you can’t, or don’t… she may drain all the years of your life, and then… then I’ll be left all alone under her hand.” She bit her lip but could not stop the quiver. “I’m… I’m also scared of being alone…” She gave a weak, pathetic, trembling smile, “Total coward… but I beg you… don’t leave this coward alone…”

Kaiji stroked Priceless’s cheek and moved her thumb across to the corner of one eye to wipe a forming bit of water away. “I’ll listen to you, I’ll be careful, I’ll obey her, and I won’t give her any reason to have you end up alone… OK?”

Priceless sniffled. “OK. Thank you.” She said, just before hearing the sound of the lock being undone. “The mistress!” She hissed, and they scrambled together to prostrate themselves toward the door.